|
Next Meeting
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
6:30 P.M.
Sherrod Avenue
Church of Christ
Florence, Alabama
Announcements
"PEOPLE CHOICE CAR SHOW" - UNA fraternity Alpha Tau Omega's 1st Annual "People's Choice Car Show" will be
held Saturday, October 31, on the university campus. The show will be from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Registration
is $10 per car with a portion going to the Big Brothers & Big Sisters of the Shoals.
First place trophies in each class and a Best In Show will be awarded.
CHRISTMAS DINNER - The Muscle Shoals Region, AACA annual Christmas Dinner will be held 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, December
15 at Ryan's Steakhouse on Cox Creek Pkwy. in Florence. Cost which includes meal, tax and gratuity is $12.50 per
person.
Calendar of Events 2009
October 31
Car Show
Hamilton, Alabama
October 31
Alpha Tau Omega's
First Annual People Choice
Car Show
UNA Campus
Florence, Alabama
November 1
Alcazar Car Show
Lineville, Alabama
December 15
Muscle Shoals Region, AACA Christmas Dinner
6:00 p.m.
Ryan's Steakhouse
Florence, Alabama
2009 Officers
President:
Bill Davis
767-2825
wldavis3@comcast.net
Secretary/Editor:
James McCollum
314-5769
jamcc104@comcast.net
Treasurer:
Charlie Cooper
CharlesCooper@bellsouth.net
Membership Dues
Membership dues are $10 payable at the beginning of each year.
Muscle Shoals Region, AACA
The Muscle Shoals Region, AACA meets each month at 6:30 PM at Sherrod Avenue
Church of Christ, 1207 Sherrod Avenue, Florence, Alabama. Correspondence
should be mailed to Muscle Shoals Region, AACA c/o James McCollum, 104
Lindsey Court, Tuscumbia, Alabama, 35674.
National AACA
The Muscle Shoals Region, AACA is sanctioned by the national Antique
Automobile Club of America. AACA membership is require of all its
regions / chapters members.
|
|
Labor Day Parade
- September 8, 2009
Tuscumbia's Labor Day Parade was held Monday, September 7. The parade which began near Deshler High School,
proceeded down Main Street before ending at Spring Park. Participating in the parade were Charlie Cooper,
Charlie Grimmitt and Richard Hunnicutt.
Click here for more pictures.
Burger King Display / Meeting
- August 31, 2009
Members of the Muscle Shoals Region, AACA met August 25, 2009, at the Burger King on Cox Creek Parkway in
Florence. Five antique automobiles were driven and park near the parkway - 1951 Plymouth, Bill Davis; 1954
Plymouth, Richard Hunnicutt; 1955 Ford Crown Victoria, Charlie Cooper; 1967 Pontiac GTO, B.J. Thornton; and
1969 Corvette, Joel Parris.
After a quick bite everyone headed to Bobby Brown's garage where he had a 1966 Ford Mustang convertible
being restored. He also had a 1965 Mustang that he brought new and was restored.
Other members present were: Mike Blackburn, Jim Canerday, Orvis Engelstad, Charlie Grimmitt and James
McCollum.
Click here for more pictures.
October Minutes of the Muscle Shoals Region, AACA
- October 27, 2009
Minutes from the Muscle Shoals Antique Auto Club - held at Sherrod Avenue Church of Christ Tuesday, October
27, 2009.
President Bill Davis was unexpectedly called out of town. Secretary Jimmy McCollum had a conflicting church
meeting. Mike Blackburn was working on a rental property.
Richard Hunnicutt presided. Attendees were Richard Hunnicutt, Bill Harrison, Charlie Cooper, Ronnie Hayes,
Lester Cunningham, Charlie Grimmitt, Willie Hickman, Orvis Engelstad, BJ Thornton and Bryant Hester.
Richard Hunnicutt brought some of his old car tag collection for show. An interesting discussion about old
tags occurred. Willie
|
Charlie Cooper's 1956 Ford Crown Victoria
|
Tri-Fives Join Tupelo Auto Museum's Collection For November
|
TUPELO, Miss.--Tri-Five Chevys will be on display at the Tupelo Automobile Museum from Saturday,
November 7 through Saturday, November 28. The exhibit includes Chevrolets from 1955, 1956 and 1957.
"The Tri-Five Chevys are some of the most sought-after vehicles by many classic car collectors,"
said Curator Allen McDaniel. "The popularity of these models is unmatched and unrivaled by any
other manufacturer." While these three year models share many similarities, they also exhibit design
changes that kept GM ahead of other manufacturers.
It's been two years since the last exhibit of 1957 Chevrolets at the museum, and the Tri-Fives are
expected to bring as many, if not, more visitors than the previous exhibit.
"After the '57 Chevy exhibit in November of 2007," said McDaniel, "the museum has had an overwhelming
number of requests to bring back the classic Chevys and expand the exhibit to include the '55s and
'56s."
The Tri Five exhibit will be in addition to the museum's regular collection of over 100 cars from
the 1880s to the 2000s. Special admission rates for the exhibit will be $7.50 for adults and $5
for children ages 5 to 12. The exhibit is free for children under age 5. The Tupelo Automobile
Museum is located off Highway 45 in Tupelo, Mississippi. For more information about this or future
exhibits, visit www.tupeloauto.com or call 662-842-4242.
|
|
|
Hickman being the foremost authority on them. Charlie Cooper explained the courthouse process to register
an old tag to the year of the old car.
Upcoming shows were named. Let Richard know dates of this year's Christmas Parades.
Recent trips to old car events by members were related to other members. Interest in cars and memorabilia
continues to grow. Lester Cunningham frequents the Charlotte Auto Fairs and Moultrie Georgia. Everybody
wants to go to Carlisle and Hershey.
Ronnie Hayes brought a very nice example of wood graining that he had done for an elderly gentleman building
an old circa 1918 biplane. Ronnie is very good at wood graining. See the dash in his '33 Ford Coupe.
This year's club Christmas dinner get-together is planned for Tuesday, December 15, 6:00 p.m. at Ryan's
on Cox Creek Parkway. A room for us is reserved. Food, drink, dessert, tax and gratuity is 12.50 per person.
A good deal for us in today's world. A good time was had by all. Next meeting is November 24, 2009.
Recorded by Charlie Cooper in the absence of James McCollum.
|
Mustang Engine Catches Fire
- August 4, 2009
James McCollum's 1966 Mustang caught fire Sunday, July 19th while backing it out of his garage. The
fire started as soon as James turn the ignition. He got the car out of the garage and on the driveway before
noticing smoke coming out from under the hood. With help from neighbors and the Tuscumbia fire department the
fire was put under control. It is believed the fire started with the wiring between the starter and battery.
The damage was limited to under the hood and behind the dash. James intends to put the Mustang back, hopefully
in better condition than before the fire.
The Magic of Old Car Magazines
By James Bartlett
Gulf Coast Region AACA
I found something the other day that had been long forgotten and overlooked. It was a stash of Antique
Automobile magazines; the official publication of the national AACA club. They were in a closet at my
mother’s house. I had known about them for a while, but the ones on top were only a few years old, and
duplicated my own cache of magazines. But I didn’t expect what was on the bottom, at least a dozen from
the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, back when my father was still living. He had apparently put a few magazines
aside on a shelf. Later, my mother had simply added the newer ones on top.
After pulling out a particularly yellowed edition, the oldest, and looking it over, I couldn’t stop finding
the other early ones. It was like a treasure hunt. And what fun they were. They took me back a quarter-century
to a time when the cars on tour were the ones that we now only see in museums. And the car ads were sensational;
not just for the pocket-change prices by today’s standards, but for the pure availability of cars you can only
find now at high stakes auctions.
|
|
|
There were also technical articles of great interest. My favorites were one on tightening up loose
wood-spoke wheels, and another on the old varnish based paints used on cars during the teens. For
those who don’t know, these paints were thin as water, and were applied by splash or even a water
hose-type nozzle. The excess paint would run down the metalwork, drip onto a flattened funnel type
table and drain back into five gallon buckets for reuse the next day. After many coats and hand-rubbing,
the cars left the factory looking like glass. But that paint oxidized and turned dull in a matter of
months. The advent of lacquer paint in the 1920s revolutionized the process, and led to an explosion
of colors that had never been available before. See what you can learn from old magazines?
My brother Wayne has gathered his own magazine stack dating from the ‘60s. After I bought the 1919
Locomobile, he searched them and found several pictures of sister cars, plus a photo of my car’s
previous owner. And then he scored the biggest find; a photo of my car on the cover of Old Cars Weekly
back in the early ‘70s after it had won an award. The Veteran Car Club had honored it as the best
restored Locomobile on the Glidden Tour. Today, it’s probably been 10 years since one of these cars
was on this tour. Most of them are sitting in museums and private collections, or they’re considered
too valuable to drive, or there’s a more basic problem. None of the old-time mechanics are still around
to keep them running.
Through the years, my own magazine collection had multiplied like roaches. I discretely hid several
hundred in stacks that would reach about two feet high before they fell over. Occasionally I’d reorganize
and sort them by title, and everything would stay neat until I would inevitably be tempted to pull a
half-dozen or so from the bottom. After a few of these instances, the stacks would be back to chaos.
Inevitably, one day I realized that I was running out of room. And unlike books, magazines don’t look
good stacked in shelves. So I boxed them up in four or five heavy boxes and tried to give them away.
No takers, until I finally found a fellow enthusiast that I knew would read them – Robby Markman. After
the magazines departed, for a while I felt almost like I’d pushed my children out the door. But I still
had the hundred or so from my mother’s house to go through. And I also noticed that, as a half-dozen or
more new magazines kept arriving each month, that these things really are like roaches. You really can’t
kill them. They just keep multiplying.
|
|
|
|
|
